Waag Society, or ‘The Waag, Society for Old and New Media’ as it started out in 1994, has always focussed on the social aspect of technology, with themes like (open) access for all, privacy, empowerment and user-centred design.

Our Design philosophy is called ‘Users as Designers’, as we think that real users should be the ones to define design requirements. In our projects, we therefore always actively seek the social context.

These 20 highlights are far from exhaustive in naming all the projects we have been involved in during the past 20 years. You could say that it’s a careful selection.

We invite you to explore our website to find more examples of our work. Or even better: join one of our hands-on events (more than 150 every year!), workshops or visit our Fablab/Open Wetlab.

Waag Society project overview
Waag Society events
Waag Society’s Fablab
Open Wetlab workshops

Not so long ago, we were asked by the European Commission to take part in the ‘Digital Social Innovation’ consortium that advises the commission on the road to take when it comes to social innovation in the digital world. Again, one of the present-day solutions is to create a map of all available initiatives in the field. It does not even look that much different from the one we made 15 years ago.

But agreed, we do participate in many EU-projects nowadays. To name a few (they certainly do have strange acronyms in some cases): WEAVE, Eclectis, DecarboNet, MeSch, RICHES, Collage, Smart CitySDK, Apps for Europe, Commons4Europe and the upcoming Europeana Space. They all bring together people from many nations and cultures around art, science and technology-related themes.

Medialounge
Digital Social Innovation (DSI)